Re: [Librefm-discuss] Libre.fm as the central place for obtaining free music

[Matija Šuklje]

Dne sreda 3. marca 2010 ob 06:58:13 je Blaise Alleyne napisal(a):
> On 10-03-02 11:08 PM, George De Bruin wrote:
> >> Let's not forget that free songs are often copyrighted, but that
> >> Libre.fm will never be allowing nonfree materials for download.
> >
> > Yes, but what is your definition of free?  If you are asserting only
> > those pieces that have been assigned CC0 or Public Domain status, then
> > the range is extremely narrow.  If you are accepting CC BY/NC/ND/SA,
> > and other similarly compatible deeds / licenses then I would believe
> > there is wide range to work with. (But as I stated elsewhere,
> > IANAL...best to leave that to the real deal at CC, EFF, or Software
> > Freedom Library, or some other such organization that does have a
> > legal staff).

IAAL (at least a law student in my final year), but the question shouldn't be 
what's legal, but what's the goal Libre.FM is trying to reach. We should ask 
ourselves whether we'd rather be:
* promoting _freedom_ and trying to change the world; or
* offering its users as much music as he can legally _listen_ to.

As a side-note: copyrighted works are only a teeny tiny spot compared to the 
vastness of works already in the public domain (e.g. *all* works after 70 
years after author's death or 70 years after publication for "collective 
works")

> I'll let Matt speak for the libre.fm project, but I'm pretty sure we're
> using the Definition of Free Cultural Works, the same definition that's
> widely accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation, the Creative Commons, etc.
> 
> http://freedomdefined.org/Definition

That sounds like a safe choice, yeah. Some might call it strict, but as I said 
it depends on what Libre.FM's priorities are.

I'd add to the list the public domain itself. We're constantly forgetting 
about works that already *are* in the public domain — whether their copyright 
term has ended or they're outside of copyright's scope in the first place. I 
know that at the moment, because the copyright term has been prolonged too 
often and too much, we don't have many pieces of music that were recorded 
digitally and fall into the public domain *yet*. But this shouldn't discourage 
us e.g. from ripping LPs and EPs from the 20's and sharing these works that 
are already in the PD.


Cheers,
Matija
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